Plum Blossom Youth's peculiar hobby remained unchanged. Upon entering the Plum Blossom Secret Chamber, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang automatically changed their clothes, both donning black suits, ties, and silver masks.
Xiao Lou had already heard about the rules of Plum Blossom 4 from Ye Qi —it's a pure lottery level; if you're lucky, you can get a lot of coins and card rewards, but if you're unlucky, you might lose all the resources you've already acquired.
This level features squares of different colors, each associated with a corresponding secret room. There are also some quiz sections, making it somewhat like a "prize quiz" game.
The good news is that regardless of winning or losing, this level will not force the elimination of Challengers. Even if you are unlucky, you will only lose some cards and coins, so Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang are in a very relaxed state of mind.
Plum Blossom Youth asked, "Have either of you ever played a game called 'Flying Chess'?"
Yu Hanjiang doesn't play many games, so upon hearing this, he turned to look at Xiao Lou with a questioning gaze.
Xiao Lou had never played it either, but he had heard of "Flying Chess" and asked, "Is it the kind of game where people take turns rolling dice and move forward a certain number of spaces depending on the number they roll?"
Plum Blossom Youth nodded: "Pretty much, but the rules of our [ card Ludo] have changed a bit. What you do is still roll the dice and move forward a certain number of spaces depending on the number you roll, but the board has been changed to different suits of our playing cards."
Plum Blossom Youth paused for a moment, then said, "The other two Challengers have also come in. I'm too lazy to explain to you separately. Come with me, and I'll explain the rules of the game to you all at once."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance and followed the boy into the game area.
Unlike the poker tables of Plum Blossom 2 and Plum Blossom 3, the playing area for Plum Blossom 4 is extremely spacious, almost the size of two football fields.
The ground was marked with numerous small square grids, each about one meter long and wide. All the grids connected together formed a large rhomboid area. Starting from the beginning, the grids were arranged in a cyclical order: hearts, spade, diamonds, and plum blossom, connected end to end. Each corner grid was marked with a "K," representing the king of hearts, spade k, diamond k, and plum blossom k, respectively.
These four King cards form a passageway that leads directly to the very center of the venue.
In the center of the arena are the Big Ace and the Little Ace, with gold and silver treasure chests placed on top of them respectively.
There are four people participating in the game.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were on one team, while the other team was a male and female pair. Xiao Lou looked up and glanced at them.
The girl had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing a suit. Because she was wearing a silver mask, her face was not visible, but her eyes were clear and bright, and her gaze was very familiar. In addition, her height was just at Xiao Lou's chest, which made her look a lot like Liu Qiao, whom he had met in the Spade 4 escape room not long ago.
Her partner was a tall man who looked familiar, somewhat like Spade 4. The Masked Man encountered in Liuxi Village – a master who can move objects from a distance.
Xiao Lou asked, "Is this Xiao Liu?"
Hearing the familiar, gentle voices, Liu Qiao was clearly taken aback. She was about to call out " Professor Xiao " when she remembered that Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang used aliases in front of outsiders, so she quickly changed her address to "Mr. Xiao, Old Han, is that you?"
Xiao Lou smiled and nodded, then looked at Masked Man and said, "Have you seen this man in Liuxi Village as well?"
"Yes." Masked Man slightly raised the corners of his lips. "It seems that we are at the same level in the escape room. Xiao Liu and I were both soloing Liuxi Village in Spade 4, but Plum Blossom 4 forces two people to team up, so it matched the two of us who were alone together."
"I just recognized him too," Liu Qiao said. "I didn't expect to run into you guys at Plum Blossom 4. What a coincidence."
In the old Plum Blossom Secret Chamber, two teams of Challengers faced off, and the losing team was likely to be eliminated. But in today's card game, there's no direct competition; it's all about skill and luck, so the four players don't need to be too tense. Even if Liu Qiao and Xiao Lou are on different teams, there's no need to worry about them being eliminated.
Plum Blossom Youth asked in confusion, "Do the four of you know each other?"
Xiao Lou explained with a smile, "We met not long ago on Spade 4. "
Plum Blossom Youth nodded and said, "Okay, now let's look at the specific rules of the game. I'll give you a demonstration."
The boy picked up the dice, tossed them casually, and the number that appeared was "1". He took one step forward from the blank square at the starting point and landed exactly on a [ hearts ] square.
A pop-up notification box appears: " red heart 2" What is the name of the killer in Rose Funeral? (3 seconds countdown)
Xiao Lou was taken aback. Ye Qi had mentioned that this level would include a quiz section with randomized questions. He remembered the killer from Red Heart 2 —the surgeon Zhao Sen, who murdered his wife and cousin and then placed his wife's body on a bed of roses.
Xiao Lou answered instinctively, " Zhao Sen ".
Plum Blossom Youth said calmly, "Answer correctly to unlock the reward in this square."
Yu Hanjiang frowned: "What if you can't answer?"
Plum Blossom Youth said, "Then you can only accept the punishment, and the punishment pattern may be different for each square."
Xiao Lou then asked, "What about the rewards? Are they different for different suits?"
Plum Blossom Youth nodded: "The rewards will be provided by the four Guardians. The hearts, diamonds, and spade slots will randomly reward various cards or upgrades."
Items like plum blossoms reward coins.
The boy paused, then pointed to the two treasure chests in the middle of the arena: " You saw those two treasure chests, right?"
The four of them nodded in unison.
The boy said, "Those are rewards provided by our Sun God and Moon God. Whoever lands on any one of the four suits of King can go to the center to draw a prize. The four corners of the diamond-shaped game field are King of Hearts, Diamond King, Spade King, and Plum Blossom King. Landing on a red King draws a gold treasure chest, and landing on a black King draws a silver treasure chest. The treasure chests contain limited S-rarity cards."
His gaze swept across the room, and he continued, "After the game begins, the four of you will stand on the empty square at the starting point and roll the dice in turn. The game will only end when two people land on the K square and take away the gold and silver treasure chest rewards."
He paused, turned and walked to the sofa in the center of the room, sat down, and said calmly, "The game begins. 10 seconds countdown. Please draw a number card first, and the rest of the game will proceed in order according to the number."
The boy waved his hand gently, and four numbered cards floated into the air and appeared in front of the four people.
They looked at each other, stretched out their hands, and each drew a card.
Xiao Lou drew number 1, Yu Hanjiang number 2, Liu Qiao number 3, and Masked Man number 4.
The boy said, "The four of you, please stand in the starting square."
The four of them immediately walked to the game area and stood in the starting square.
Since Xiao Lou is number 1, he will roll the dice first.
The boy said, "The dice are shared, so player number 1 will start the game first."
As soon as he finished speaking, a disc appeared in front of Xiao Lou, along with a die twice the size of the ones usually used for playing mahjong.
Xiao Lou picked up the dice and tossed them into the disc—3 points.
He started walking forward, and after six steps, he stopped on the [ diamonds ] square.
A transparent LCD screen appeared in front of him, displaying a puzzle—a Nine Palaces Grid math problem that Xiao Lou excelled at.
4/3/X
9/X/1
X/X/6
Q: What number should be filled in at the X position in the diagram? Please answer within 10 seconds.
8527, Xiao Lou gave the answer almost instantly after reading the question.
A message pops up on the screen: "Correct answer, reward card [ tool card: scissors]!"
Xiao Lou picked up the card and examined it closely. It was a B-grade tool card, its function being to cut anything that could be cut, such as the ring he had drawn with Compass and the white silk that had been confiscated before. These could all be cut by the scissors, rendering them ineffective.
It's a pretty useful card, but unfortunately it has a 9-use limit, which is consistent with the strength of a B-tier card.
Xiao Lou was in a good mood after receiving a free card. He smiled and put the reward card into the card holder.
Immediately afterwards, number 2, Yu Hanjiang, began rolling the dice.
He threw a 5, took 5 steps forward, and landed right on the [ hearts ].
Xiao Lou thought Hearts would ask him who the murderer was, and Captain Yu would definitely be fine, but this time the question was: "Please name the group of best friends in the Express Train case, with a time limit of 5 seconds."
Xiao Lou: "..."
The names of that "XiaoX" group of best friends are really hard to remember. Xiao Lou had just thought of Liu Xiaoyan and Song Xiaoyu when Yu Hanjiang answered at lightning speed: " Liu Xiaoyan, Zhang Xiaoning, Wu Xiaofei, Song Xiaoyu, Cheng Xiaoli."
In just 5 seconds, the Challenger has very little time to react, almost having to say a name every second!
Yu Hanjiang answered very quickly, and the three people present all gave him a thumbs up.
A notification pops up on the screen: "Congratulations, you answered correctly! You have one chance to instantly upgrade your reward card to the maximum level! Please select the card you want to upgrade from your card holder."
Yu Hanjiang chose the weapon card [Silver Moon]. This sniper rifle has an initial range of 800 meters. He had never used it before, but now he happened to draw an upgrade opportunity in the bonus stage, and its growth level was directly maxed out, so the range could reach 1500 meters.
The rewards from the hearts grid are quite useful. Yu Hanjiang stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Xiao Lou. Xiao Lou was also looking at him. They exchanged a glance and thought to themselves, "The start is going well. I hope it will continue to go smoothly!"
Number 3, Liu Qiao, threw a 4, moved forward 4 steps, and landed exactly on the plum blossom square.
A notification pops up on the screen: "Enter the reward slot and receive 100,000 gold coins."
Liu Qiao was overjoyed. The gold coin reward from Plum Blossom was so simple and straightforward. He didn't have to do anything and just got 100,000 for free. It was awesome.
Masked Man (#4) threw a 1. He took a step forward and stepped on the heart. A prompt appeared on the screen: " What are the names of the various school buildings at Fenglin High School? 10-second time limit."
The masked man paused, then said with a bitter expression, "Zhiyuan Tower, Shuxiang Tower..."
He really doesn't remember the other buildings!
Plum Blossom Youth said calmly, "Time's up. If your answer is incomplete, please accept the punishment—the punishment for this square is to leave one card from your card holder."
Helpless, Masked Man had no choice but to take out the least important card from the card holder and return it to Plum Blossom Youth.
The boy said, "Contestant number 1, please continue."
Xiao Lou is currently on the diamonds square. The next square is the plum blossom square, followed by the cycle of hearts, spade, diamonds, and plum blossom. He wants to try rolling a 4 so he can continue moving to the diamonds square.
Diamonds is a puzzle, and that's what he's best at.
Xiao Lou took a deep breath, picked up the dice, and gently tossed them onto the plate, silently thinking: 4 points to go to Diamonds, or 1...
You can submit a bid to Plum Blossom, but definitely don't submit a 3-point bid to Spade. They don't know what Spade's model is, but it's definitely not simple.
The die rolled rapidly in the disc for a moment before finally stopping—a 3.
Xiao Lou: "..."
These are the points he least wants!
Xiao Lou reluctantly took three steps forward and entered the spade area.
Just as I was worrying about what kind of game I would face, a red warning popped up on the big screen: "Warning! The Tibetan Mastiff is a fierce animal with a strong sense of territory. You have mistakenly entered the territory of the Tibetan Mastiff. Please run for your life as fast as you can and don't let the Tibetan Mastiff catch up with you! Note: The Tibetan Mastiff will disappear after running a clockwise lap. If you are knocked down halfway, the challenge will fail and you will have to accept the penalty. Countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"
A Tibetan Mastiff suddenly appeared behind Xiao Lou. His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately turned and ran!
Fortunately, Yu Hanjiang had given him the speed-boosting shoes before leaving the Spade 4 chamber. He ran at five times the normal speed, barely managing to outrun the Tibetan Mastiff. The ferocious dog was just over a meter behind him, barking and barking, its sharp teeth almost biting his leg!
Xiao Lou's face turned pale, and he used all his strength to run wildly.
Those few minutes felt like hours. Xiao Lou had never experienced anything so thrilling in his life. The psychological pressure from the enormous Tibetan Mastiff made it almost impossible for him to breathe.
Xiao Lou's heart was about to jump out of his chest. His mind was blank, with only one thought remaining: Run!
If you run too slowly, this vicious dog will catch up with you, and you might even get bitten...
He dared not think too much about it, and forced himself to run a full lap with his speed-up shoes, before the Tibetan Mastiff disappeared in Spade.
Throughout the entire process, Yu Hanjiang kept his eyes glued to Xiao Lou, as if afraid that the Tibetan Mastiff would actually pounce on him.
Xiao Lou finally reached the finish line. His legs were trembling, and he could barely stand. He held his knees with both hands and gasped for breath. Yu Hanjiang asked with a worried look, "Are you alright?"
Xiao Lou waved his hand: "No, it's nothing."
A notification popped up on the screen in front of me: "Challenge successful, reward obtained [Weapon Card: Night Demon Military Knife ]!"
Xiao Lou picked up the reward card and saw that it was a military knife about 20cm long, an A-rank card. It had no special skill effects, but the blade was extremely sharp. Xiao Lou thought that this must be something Captain Yu would like.
I helped Captain Yu win a card, all my efforts weren't in vain... His speed was truly off the charts, it brought out the potential of humanity in a crisis, he'll definitely have a psychological trauma whenever he sees Tibetan Mastiff in the future.
Plum Blossom Youth said, "The game continues."
Number 2, Yu Hanjiang, then rolled the dice.
He's in the hearts square, and the sequence before him is spade, diamonds, plum blossom, and hearts.
Yu Hanjiang casually tossed the ball and got a 2.
He took two steps forward expressionlessly and stepped into the diamonds grid.
Looking at the complex Mathematical Equation on the blackboard, Yu Hanjiang gave up trying to figure it out.
Plum Blossom Youth said calmly, "Challenge failed. Please accept the punishment."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud "boom" was heard, and the lattice beneath Yu Hanjiang's feet suddenly collapsed, causing him to fall into a large pit. Immediately afterward, a bucket of water poured over his head, drenching him completely.
Yu Hanjiang: "..."
Xiao Lou: "..."
Captain Yu, soaked to the bone, returned to the ground, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
What kind of terrible luck is this?
Xiao Lou stepped into the Spade grid, which he was least good at, while Yu Hanjiang stepped into the Diamonds grid, which
he hated most.
Can they switch places?